Another 1.6 Polo

AnkitPrashar · 17th October 2010, 00:56

So here it is another 1.6 Polo. Here is a brief history about my buying decision

I am an automobile designer and i had been following up the development of the new polo while i was studying in UK. Lets just say that when i saw the final car i was quite impressed.When i heard that VW was going to launch this in India, i had made up my mind that my next car had to be this one!

Now design at best is subjective and appeals differently to different people. For me the polo was the most successful translation of the VW design philosophy across its portfolio of cars. Theres an increasing trend whereby more and more automakers are applying similar design themes across its range of cars and generally one of their vehicles end up getting THAT PERFECT DESIGN (case in point being the Fiesta Hatch for Ford, The corsa hatch for Opel and ofcourse the POLO).

VW showcased the car at the Delhi autoexpo and that was the first time I saw it in flesh. I had decided that this was going to be it and somehow my dad liked the overall appearance of the car as well! Plus the prospect of launching a 1.6 variant was too good to resist.
Polo was launched in April(I think) and i somehow resisted to go for 1.2 but i finally gave in and around July 15th, i booked the 1.2 at VW gurgaon. I did take a TD of i20, frankly that was the only other option. Ofcourse , i20 is loaded and is definatley VFM, but i didn't want any of those. I choose POLO for its no-nonsense design and the obvious German solid build. Plus the 1.6 engine was not offered in any of the hatches.
As far as the features that concerned me, it was a question of getting the right ICE in the polo and i would be good to go.
So July 15th, i go to the showroom and book the 1.2 , SP tells me 4 months/end of November- thats a mental torture! Anyways i had no choice so i went for it, but the SP told me that when they do launch 1.6, they can upgrade me to the 1.6 and i would the preference first.
In the first week of August, i went to the showroom to inquire about my booking and i was told they have started taking bookings for 1.6 I upgraded mine on the spot and was told i was the 3rd customer for 1.6 and would get the car in the first lot.
Last week of August i get a call that my car had arrived and i could take the delivery on a Sunday. I was obviously excited to finally get it but my bad luck prevented me to take it as i had to go on an official trip to Mumbai and Bangalore on Sunday for a week! Oh another damn mental torture, this was as if someone was intentionally mocking me. Throughout the trip and especially in Bangalore i saw many Polos and this was getting just too much to take!

Finally getting back after one week , i rushed to the showroom the very next morning and took the delivery. I immediately sold off my ICE to another comfortline customer on the spot (greatest decision ever made!). I just took the mudflaps and the foot mats. Delivery was normal just like everyone else's in this forum!

I bought the car in the worst possible season when gurgaon and delhi virtually had no roads. Driving the new car over such bad roads was like a punishment.
I went on a drive the following weekend, and jumped over a big pothole! (god that feeling sucks when you go over a bad pothole in your brand new car). Thankfully nothing was damaged. But after a while the engine light came and i had to cut short my trip. I called up the dedicated mechanic who was basically of no help at all. I called up the manager, screamed on him and i was promised that my car would be taken from my house the very next morning and returned by evening.
Not impressed with the reliability i must say. However, in the evening i started the car and the engine light no longer stayed on. I still sent the car the very next day and by evening had got it back. They reported no problems.

After that its been a trouble-free experience. The 1.6 is good enough for me, i was driving a 1.8 and so its not a big difference for me but the 1.6 does offer acceptable performance. Buying the 1.2 would have definitely made me feel the lack of power. Another thing is that after driving the 1.6, I suddenly start realizing the problems with 1.2, mainly the engine noise and vibrations

.

So my overall experience with the car has been more than satisfactory. I have not commented much on the performance and driving experience because its similar to what everyone has reported (it has to be!). I thought i would give a different view of my ownership and the reasons behind buying this car
I have managed to get what i feel an excellent integrated HU which offers me everything i could ask for. I will post more details on the HU in my next post.

Till then here are some pics:-

architect · 17th October 2010, 01:03

Let me be the first to congratulate you (unless someone beats me to it while I type this). The Polo 1.6 does have a lot going for it and the engine is the icing on the cake. Never mind the few issues like the sparse dealer network or the EPS.

Enjoy the car and keep us posted about how it is performing.

methecupid · 17th October 2010, 01:14

Congrats on the acquisition Ankit, you own one of the most desirable cars around (yes! still ... though there has been a deluge of 1.6 reporting on the forum) I had to downgrade from this mean-machine to a 1.6 because the SP told me they have halted its production for a while, beat my luck

Drive responsibly, and away from the craters of Gurgaon

hillram · 17th October 2010, 01:36

Hearty Congratulations on acquiring the Polo 1.6.
Its a world class car and am sure you will enjoy its ownership.Happy Motoring !!!

AnkitPrashar · 17th October 2010, 01:39

Sorry if the pictures are bad, they certainly ain't good enough for this car! Wish i had an slr and knew how to use one!
Also spare me if my posts are not that good or informative, i am not used to it.

Now about the ICE. The biggest problem with the polo was the stereo. Only MP3 are you kidding me! So i sold of the original HU on the day of the delivery and thus began my search for the stereo.

Since I bought the car mainly because of its no-non sense design, I wanted to keep that in the interiors as well and so I just wanted the OEM/look-alike integrated stereo no matter what. Checked the original VW stereos, RCD-510 and RNS-510, 65k onwards and that was the end of it. Plus VW guys weren't
willing to sell one as they were unable to install it in one of their customers polo.

I came across these Chinese companies on the internet which make OEM look-alikes for all major car manufacturers. Being Chinese it was difficult to trust them. So i checked various forums and finally narrowed down to one model; Witson W2 D-723V. This was one unit which was being sold for more than 2 years in USA, Poland, Uk, Malaysia, Singapore and of course China. I did have a lot of bugs when it was launched but during the last 2 years it was being constantly being improved. It did seem reliable and with a price of 16k, i had to take the risk.

So i bought the stereo, with a reverse camera, and got it shipped via DHL. I aslo made the payment via paypal just to be sure. All this along with the 4.5k customs duty costed me 24k finally.
Another company called Caska sold a similar model in India and provided 1 year warranty.But it was 42k way too much. The Witson only offered 1 yr warranty but then the unit had to be shipped to China. However, i found the witson unit to be more reliable (After my extensive research on the internet!) and 42 k was just out of my budget.

Made the payment on a Friday morning, they shipped it on Friday evening and by Sunday morning it had arrived in India. DHL Rocks!!
When i did receive the unit i wasnt too sure about the quality and did expect some common bugs. But i was proved wrong completely. The overall packaging of the unit is highly professional, the quality is unbelievable and everything and i mean every damn thing worked. They actually managed to sort out each and every single bugs.

Here the feature list:-

-Single DVD/CD
-Front micro USB for ipod/powered for charging- Ipod cable provided
-Rear powered USB for pen-drives and mobile phones
-Bluetooth worked a charm with many phones, can dial, recieve calls and see missed calls along with contacs from the phone. Voice quality perfect and no need to attach the external mic provided. Only numbers are displayed while receiving a call not the names!
-Bluetooth music through the phone was perfect
-Radio; AM/FM reception perfect
-Rear view cam works perfect

-GPS; its a winCE 5.0 based device and its unlocked. I bought Satguide and it did work (wont recommend though). Today i managed to install Mapmyindia which is way way better. (PM me for the software details)

So there you go, my Polo is as feature rich as an i20 now, at least the ones that concern me. The system looks OEM, fit (the panel was bit loose when i took the pics, i just had to push it in for the perfect fit),finish, color and red-lighting color all match to perfection. And oh its a 6.2' 800*480 touch-screen!

As for the connection, its a simple plug-n play as far as the unit is concerned.
For the GPS adapter wiring and rear camera wiring, i managed to get one of the VW employee from their showroom to come to my house after he finished his work at the showroom. Since he knew every bit about the car, he did the work flawlessly and moreover for the rear view cam, he provided a special coupler to power it through the reverse light thereby protecting my warranty!

Again some pics attached!

blackasta · 17th October 2010, 07:35

Impressed by the car - but more impressed by your research / acquisition / installation of the OEM lookalike HU. Sweet deal!
Enjoy your ride. Drive Safe.

Chethan B G · 17th October 2010, 09:24

Congrats Ankit!!

I want some help from you!!

Please give me full details of your MapmyIndia installation, including cost and installation procedure. You can PM me this information. (I have MapmyIndia installed on my mobile. It is on the memory card. I bought this about 4 months ago. I am wondering if I can use the same thing.)
Do you have any photos of the connectors of the original OEM-HU? If so, can you please forward me?

Urgent!!!

krreddy · 17th October 2010, 10:17

The HU looks very OEM and i must say it looks really good.

PlatzdaTurbo · 17th October 2010, 11:12

Great car and looks best in this color (along with red) IMO. Beautiful pics and i must add that the add-on is really excellent. It looks well integrated and not out of place and thankfully it is functional without issues as well. Enjoy her. Cheers

yogiii · 17th October 2010, 11:13

Hey AnkitPrashar Congrats for a wonderful car !
Even I love the looks of Polo and yours is I think the first 1.6 Polo in Delhi on T-BHP.
The HU looks great amazing fit and finish, as you are using an iPod I wanted to ask a silly question.
Does the HU support album arts ?
Cheers

h@r$h@l · 17th October 2010, 13:12

Hi Ankit,

Congrats on your car. The OEM systems looks fantastic and sure seems VFM. Also does replacing the head unit affect the warranty in any ways?

Pls keep updating your thread.

Congrats once again.

Cheers!

theragingbull · 17th October 2010, 13:23

Great pics! Welcome to the POLO club

The HU is definitely the best for Polo. btw where is the rear view cam located? Could you post a pic of the screen that shows a view from the cam?
How much did you sell your original HU for?

neoonwheels · 17th October 2010, 15:03

Congrats on the car. The HU is indeed very impressive.

EssYouWe · 17th October 2010, 16:11

Hi Ankit,

Congratulations on your purchase.

If the check engine light came on, the ECU must have recorded some error code. Are you sure the service center found no error code?

wildon · 17th October 2010, 16:20

Is the GPS needs any external antenna for the proper reception ?

Good fit and finish. How is the sound quality?

Edit:- Sorry found it , it comes with an antenna.

17th October 2010, 00:56	#1
AnkitPrashar BHPian Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Gurgaon Posts: 111 Thanked: 30 Times	Another 1.6 Polo So here it is another 1.6 Polo. Here is a brief history about my buying decision I am an automobile designer and i had been following up the development of the new polo while i was studying in UK. Lets just say that when i saw the final car i was quite impressed.When i heard that VW was going to launch this in India, i had made up my mind that my next car had to be this one! Now design at best is subjective and appeals differently to different people. For me the polo was the most successful translation of the VW design philosophy across its portfolio of cars. Theres an increasing trend whereby more and more automakers are applying similar design themes across its range of cars and generally one of their vehicles end up getting THAT PERFECT DESIGN (case in point being the Fiesta Hatch for Ford, The corsa hatch for Opel and ofcourse the POLO). VW showcased the car at the Delhi autoexpo and that was the first time I saw it in flesh. I had decided that this was going to be it and somehow my dad liked the overall appearance of the car as well! Plus the prospect of launching a 1.6 variant was too good to resist. Polo was launched in April(I think) and i somehow resisted to go for 1.2 but i finally gave in and around July 15th, i booked the 1.2 at VW gurgaon. I did take a TD of i20, frankly that was the only other option. Ofcourse , i20 is loaded and is definatley VFM, but i didn't want any of those. I choose POLO for its no-nonsense design and the obvious German solid build. Plus the 1.6 engine was not offered in any of the hatches. As far as the features that concerned me, it was a question of getting the right ICE in the polo and i would be good to go. So July 15th, i go to the showroom and book the 1.2 , SP tells me 4 months/end of November- thats a mental torture! Anyways i had no choice so i went for it, but the SP told me that when they do launch 1.6, they can upgrade me to the 1.6 and i would the preference first. In the first week of August, i went to the showroom to inquire about my booking and i was told they have started taking bookings for 1.6 I upgraded mine on the spot and was told i was the 3rd customer for 1.6 and would get the car in the first lot. Last week of August i get a call that my car had arrived and i could take the delivery on a Sunday. I was obviously excited to finally get it but my bad luck prevented me to take it as i had to go on an official trip to Mumbai and Bangalore on Sunday for a week! Oh another damn mental torture, this was as if someone was intentionally mocking me. Throughout the trip and especially in Bangalore i saw many Polos and this was getting just too much to take! Finally getting back after one week , i rushed to the showroom the very next morning and took the delivery. I immediately sold off my ICE to another comfortline customer on the spot (greatest decision ever made!). I just took the mudflaps and the foot mats. Delivery was normal just like everyone else's in this forum! I bought the car in the worst possible season when gurgaon and delhi virtually had no roads. Driving the new car over such bad roads was like a punishment. I went on a drive the following weekend, and jumped over a big pothole! (god that feeling sucks when you go over a bad pothole in your brand new car). Thankfully nothing was damaged. But after a while the engine light came and i had to cut short my trip. I called up the dedicated mechanic who was basically of no help at all. I called up the manager, screamed on him and i was promised that my car would be taken from my house the very next morning and returned by evening. Not impressed with the reliability i must say. However, in the evening i started the car and the engine light no longer stayed on. I still sent the car the very next day and by evening had got it back. They reported no problems. After that its been a trouble-free experience. The 1.6 is good enough for me, i was driving a 1.8 and so its not a big difference for me but the 1.6 does offer acceptable performance. Buying the 1.2 would have definitely made me feel the lack of power. Another thing is that after driving the 1.6, I suddenly start realizing the problems with 1.2, mainly the engine noise and vibrations. So my overall experience with the car has been more than satisfactory. I have not commented much on the performance and driving experience because its similar to what everyone has reported (it has to be!). I thought i would give a different view of my ownership and the reasons behind buying this car I have managed to get what i feel an excellent integrated HU which offers me everything i could ask for. I will post more details on the HU in my next post. Till then here are some pics:- Attached Thumbnails
	() Thanks

17th October 2010, 01:03	#2
architect Senior - BHPian Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Ghaziabad, U. P Posts: 1,363 Thanked: 782 Times	Let me be the first to congratulate you (unless someone beats me to it while I type this). The Polo 1.6 does have a lot going for it and the engine is the icing on the cake. Never mind the few issues like the sparse dealer network or the EPS. Enjoy the car and keep us posted about how it is performing.
	() Thanks

17th October 2010, 01:14	#3
methecupid BANNED Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: W(o/a)ndering Posts: 328 Thanked: 676 Times	Congrats on the acquisition Ankit, you own one of the most desirable cars around (yes! still ... though there has been a deluge of 1.6 reporting on the forum) I had to downgrade from this mean-machine to a 1.6 because the SP told me they have halted its production for a while, beat my luck Drive responsibly, and away from the craters of Gurgaon
	() Thanks

17th October 2010, 01:36	#4
hillram Senior - BHPian Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Hyderabad Posts: 2,941 Thanked: 1,329 Times View My Garage	Hearty Congratulations on acquiring the Polo 1.6. Its a world class car and am sure you will enjoy its ownership.Happy Motoring !!!
	() Thanks

17th October 2010, 01:39	#5
AnkitPrashar BHPian Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Gurgaon Posts: 111 Thanked: 30 Times	Sorry if the pictures are bad, they certainly ain't good enough for this car! Wish i had an slr and knew how to use one! Also spare me if my posts are not that good or informative, i am not used to it. Now about the ICE. The biggest problem with the polo was the stereo. Only MP3 are you kidding me! So i sold of the original HU on the day of the delivery and thus began my search for the stereo. Since I bought the car mainly because of its no-non sense design, I wanted to keep that in the interiors as well and so I just wanted the OEM/look-alike integrated stereo no matter what. Checked the original VW stereos, RCD-510 and RNS-510, 65k onwards and that was the end of it. Plus VW guys weren't willing to sell one as they were unable to install it in one of their customers polo. I came across these Chinese companies on the internet which make OEM look-alikes for all major car manufacturers. Being Chinese it was difficult to trust them. So i checked various forums and finally narrowed down to one model; Witson W2 D-723V. This was one unit which was being sold for more than 2 years in USA, Poland, Uk, Malaysia, Singapore and of course China. I did have a lot of bugs when it was launched but during the last 2 years it was being constantly being improved. It did seem reliable and with a price of 16k, i had to take the risk. So i bought the stereo, with a reverse camera, and got it shipped via DHL. I aslo made the payment via paypal just to be sure. All this along with the 4.5k customs duty costed me 24k finally. Another company called Caska sold a similar model in India and provided 1 year warranty.But it was 42k way too much. The Witson only offered 1 yr warranty but then the unit had to be shipped to China. However, i found the witson unit to be more reliable (After my extensive research on the internet!) and 42 k was just out of my budget. Made the payment on a Friday morning, they shipped it on Friday evening and by Sunday morning it had arrived in India. DHL Rocks!! When i did receive the unit i wasnt too sure about the quality and did expect some common bugs. But i was proved wrong completely. The overall packaging of the unit is highly professional, the quality is unbelievable and everything and i mean every damn thing worked. They actually managed to sort out each and every single bugs. Here the feature list:- -Single DVD/CD -Front micro USB for ipod/powered for charging- Ipod cable provided -Rear powered USB for pen-drives and mobile phones -Bluetooth worked a charm with many phones, can dial, recieve calls and see missed calls along with contacs from the phone. Voice quality perfect and no need to attach the external mic provided. Only numbers are displayed while receiving a call not the names! -Bluetooth music through the phone was perfect -Radio; AM/FM reception perfect -Rear view cam works perfect -GPS; its a winCE 5.0 based device and its unlocked. I bought Satguide and it did work (wont recommend though). Today i managed to install Mapmyindia which is way way better. (PM me for the software details) So there you go, my Polo is as feature rich as an i20 now, at least the ones that concern me. The system looks OEM, fit (the panel was bit loose when i took the pics, i just had to push it in for the perfect fit),finish, color and red-lighting color all match to perfection. And oh its a 6.2' 800*480 touch-screen! As for the connection, its a simple plug-n play as far as the unit is concerned. For the GPS adapter wiring and rear camera wiring, i managed to get one of the VW employee from their showroom to come to my house after he finished his work at the showroom. Since he knew every bit about the car, he did the work flawlessly and moreover for the rear view cam, he provided a special coupler to power it through the reverse light thereby protecting my warranty! Again some pics attached! Attached Thumbnails
	(1) Thanks

17th October 2010, 07:35	#6
blackasta Senior - BHPian Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: WB 26 Posts: 3,408 Thanked: 2,928 Times View My Garage	Impressed by the car - but more impressed by your research / acquisition / installation of the OEM lookalike HU. Sweet deal! Enjoy your ride. Drive Safe.
	() Thanks

17th October 2010, 09:24	#7
Chethan B G Senior - BHPian Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Bangalore Posts: 1,670 Thanked: 2,133 Times View My Garage	Congrats Ankit!! I want some help from you!! Please give me full details of your MapmyIndia installation, including cost and installation procedure. You can PM me this information. (I have MapmyIndia installed on my mobile. It is on the memory card. I bought this about 4 months ago. I am wondering if I can use the same thing.) Do you have any photos of the connectors of the original OEM-HU? If so, can you please forward me? Urgent!!!
	() Thanks

17th October 2010, 10:17	#8
krreddy BHPian Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Hyderabad Posts: 127 Thanked: 51 Times	The HU looks very OEM and i must say it looks really good.
	() Thanks

17th October 2010, 11:12	#9
PlatzdaTurbo Senior - BHPian Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Mumbai Posts: 1,304 Thanked: 329 Times View My Garage	Great car and looks best in this color (along with red) IMO. Beautiful pics and i must add that the add-on is really excellent. It looks well integrated and not out of place and thankfully it is functional without issues as well. Enjoy her. Cheers
	() Thanks

17th October 2010, 11:13	#10
yogiii BHPian Join Date: May 2010 Location: New Delhi Posts: 239 Thanked: 269 Times	Hey AnkitPrashar Congrats for a wonderful car ! Even I love the looks of Polo and yours is I think the first 1.6 Polo in Delhi on T-BHP. The HU looks great amazing fit and finish, as you are using an iPod I wanted to ask a silly question. Does the HU support album arts ? Cheers
	() Thanks

17th October 2010, 13:12	#11
h@r$h@l Senior - BHPian Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Melbourne, Aus Posts: 1,450 Thanked: 743 Times	Hi Ankit, Congrats on your car. The OEM systems looks fantastic and sure seems VFM. Also does replacing the head unit affect the warranty in any ways? Pls keep updating your thread. Congrats once again. Cheers!
	() Thanks

17th October 2010, 13:23	#12
theragingbull Senior - BHPian Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Austin, TX Posts: 2,601 Thanked: 651 Times View My Garage	Great pics! Welcome to the POLO club The HU is definitely the best for Polo. btw where is the rear view cam located? Could you post a pic of the screen that shows a view from the cam? How much did you sell your original HU for?
	() Thanks

17th October 2010, 15:03	#13
neoonwheels Senior - BHPian Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Pune Posts: 2,070 Thanked: 1,882 Times View My Garage	Congrats on the car. The HU is indeed very impressive.
	() Thanks

17th October 2010, 16:11	#14
EssYouWe Senior - BHPian Join Date: May 2009 Location: Lucknow Posts: 1,391 Thanked: 18 Times	Hi Ankit, Congratulations on your purchase. If the check engine light came on, the ECU must have recorded some error code. Are you sure the service center found no error code?
	() Thanks

17th October 2010, 16:20	#15
wildon BANNED Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Bangalore Posts: 2,442 Thanked: 1,253 Times View My Garage	Is the GPS needs any external antenna for the proper reception ? Good fit and finish. How is the sound quality? Edit:- Sorry found it , it comes with an antenna. Last edited by wildon : 17th October 2010 at 16:29.
	() Thanks